Bikinis Over 40, 50...when is it not cool?

Hi there.  I am prepping my Bikini Boot Camp course.  I will teach a 6 week, 2 times per week Bikini Boot Camp to gear up summer.  Although given the foot of snow on the ground right now, it is hard to imagine bikini, shorts, or anything that would expose flesh to air.  But it will come and who's ready to shed the layers and reveal their tanned, toned, bikini ready figures?  Not I!  I do these fitness courses to light a fire under my own glutes.

Now for the Big Question:  Are Bikinis appropriate for women over 40, 50 and beyond?  First of all, I wonder why is this even a question, but no doubt you will find it discussed on the Internet every upcoming summer.  I am of the mind, wear what you want and makes you feel good.  But if you scroll down to the comments section of these articles you will get some strong opinions.  Maybe I should just stay out of the comment section.

I live in Europe and women often go topless from babes to grandmas.  It was a little unusual at first to see such boldness in every size and shape, but now I think, Right On!  The confidence is inspiring.  There is certainly less excruciating attention to perfection and what is appropriate beach attire over here.  I happen to like it and it has relaxed my own focus on worrying about every little figure flaw.  But that doesn't mean I am throwing in the towel and marching out to the beach without a care.  I'll be honest, I want to look good in any swim suit and I happen to like wearing bikinis.  If I am not perfection personified that's OK, I'm fit, healthy and I feel good in my bikini.

What do you think? How old is to old to a bikini?

Dull Skin Pick Me Up

Jude, of Jude's Herbal Home Remedies fame says that a pineapple juice mask on the skin for 30 minutes will give dull, winter, and shall we say mature skin a bit of color and umph.  I don't know about you but I could use both.  So as I look out on this not-so-spring-like weather, I decided to give Jude's mask a go.

 
It felt tingly and had that tightening effect, which lures me into thinking that the mask is working miracles.  Positive thinking also goes a long way.  I washed it off and voila, Jude delivers.  Umph and a wee bit of pallor is banished.  The pineapple mask gets a  two thumbs up and you can do in the morning as you go about getting ready for the day.

Egg Me On

The Oh-So Elusive Perfect Hard-Boiled Egg-
Not just an Easter hot topic, but also widely discussed among the fitness crowd.

Cover eggs with cold water. Don't crowd—you may need to cook in two batches depending on the size of pot. Gently bring to a low boil. As soon as you see a few bubbles turn off the heat and cover the pot firmly. Let sit undisturbed for about 10 minutes. This method is forgiving, an extra minute or two won't ruin your holiday eggs. Rinse the eggs with cold water or place in an ice bath to stop cooking.

Raising the Titanic

No, this is not my new booty workout program, that's later.  I am resurrecting this blog because I need some accountability, motivation, and to hang out online with some like-minded folk.  That said, I am staring down the barrel of my 49th birthday come this May (Taurus, baby).  While I can say I am in pretty decent shape, I want to step it up and be fabulous.  Fit, fun, fab and almost 50.  So it's on.  I am going to get my blogging mojo going and I want to inspire, be inspired and have some humor about this 50 business.  Who's in?  

Can You Dig It?

Hi Guys…or Guy. I probably have one reader and that would be me.
I have been super busy the last month or 6. But my workouts have not suffered and, in fact I have been doing these super short and INCREDIBLY hard workouts.

If you do not know bodyrock.tv, get your booty over there and get served.

I was just a bit thrown off by Zuzana’s, shall we say ample and well displayed rack, but the girl kicks ass, no bones about it. I still wonder how she stays put in those skimpy tops?

Try just one of her workouts from the last week. Not one is over 15 minutes and I guarantee that you will be humbled.

Oh yeah, I got hired by the men’s soccer team this summer to do core training for one hour a week. 25 guys between 20-25. Ssshwwing! Baby.!

Here’s a taste:

Amen Tony Horton

I couldn't have said it better myself. In the next year I will go to India to get certified for yoga.

Working Out on the Road

We go to Croatia quite a bit. It is a 4 hour drive from Austria and voila we are on an island in the Mediterranean Sea. We love it so much that we bought a condo there 3 years ago. As much as I LOVE Italy it is so crowded in the summer that you literally have to get to the beach by 7am to secure a very tiny spot.

So we head down there and my workouts have to be flexible because:
1) There is NO gym on the entire island. Can you believe that?
2) I can not workout in the morning (my optimal time) in the condo because I will be either waking up my family or the people below us.
3) After about 10am forget about doing it outside. It is TOO hot.

Solution:
I get up early and take my jumprope down to the beach. That's all I need. 30 minutes and I am ready to jump in the water.

I made this last summer, so in case you are traveling, if there's a will there's a way.

And it also clears out the cobwebs if you happen to indulge in some down-time holiday wine and pizza, which I most certainly do.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Keeping It Real

I have purposely avoided doing a fast on my "hard" day because it is my hard day and why add more to my plate. Or in this case, remove all food from it. haha.
But I wanted to try it and see if it would really be so bad.

First off, I like to fast on busy days. The time flies and I am distracted from thnking about eating. Those are ideal fast days. My "hard" day consists of teaching 2 classes, pretty hard ones. I do back to back kickboxing classes on Wednesday night and that surprisingly is easier than one class mid-day and one in the evening.

I ate breakfast at 8am and my fast goes until tomorrow at 8am. I taught my first class at 12:15pm. For some reason I was having an off-German day. That is when I completely struggle with the language and I really hate it. I get self-conscious and I am out of the groove. But I wasn't hungry and my energy was fine. Now I am an hour and 1/2 out from my evening class and I am hungry. Nothing I can't stand though. We'll see how this one goes. I kind of don't imagine my German improving, but right now I am thinking about how I can't wait to go to sleep.

I could throw a cicuit wrokout at them and supervise, but I do want to know how it is to do the fasts and the workouts. So no cheating.

And this pic has nothing to do with this post except I am thinking that sign for the pizzaria in the back is looking yummy. Italian cops are the best. They wear white belts, and are super-friendly. Oh wait, all Italian men are super-friendly. Even the toddlers are flirtatious.

Vloggin' it.

Clearly I need make-up but whatever:

Local Food Haul

In case you don't know I live in Austria. I am orginally from San Francisco. Truth be told, I would rather live in California, but there are lots of great things about living in Europe.

I live in a village. Not a city, not a town, a true village. There is a major city 1/2 an hour away, but when you are in the country you would never know it. Think Sound of Music.

There lots of reasons we live here, but I won't get into those. I do appreciate and love that we have so much healthy food right from out neighbors.

Today I went "grocery shopping." First stop:

1) The Bakery. They make absolutely the most divine bread called bauernbrot or farmer's bread. It is similar to my San Fran fav, sourdough. Yum! The baker is a student of mine and she always smells of sugar and dough. She is also the size of a minute and has 3 kids, one of whom is a 5 month old baby.

2) Frau Hirsch- She is lovingly known as the "Egg Lady." She has the most spoiled chickens I have had the pleasure of meeting. She cooks 2 hot meals a day for them and they are some happy campers.

3) Frau Fuchs- She is the "Cheese Lady." She makes cheese, butter and bread. We also buy apples and potatoes from her organic farm.

4) Frau Pichler- The Milk Lady. She's got milk. We go by anytime after 5pm and pick up the milk. It is still warm and it is not pasturized. I am not a milk drinker, in fact it grosses me out that it is warm. but it is the way to do it if you are a milk drinker.

No Golden Gate Bridge, killer restaurants, shops, and clubs. But I know my food.

Maybe that last post was a little self-righteous. Food tends to get religious and everyone thinks their way is the best way. I thought about apologizing for getting down on people's food choices, but I am not really sorry about my feelings towards that crap.

What absolutely kills me is kids eating processed fake food. It is the same with smoking. I will say it again, THEY STILL SMOKE IN PUBLIC PLACES here in Austria. And to top it off, you will see babies strapped in their little seats with 4 adults puffing away right next to them.

Need I say more? Ok, one more thing, child abuse.

It's one thing to not really know what good nutrition is and think you are doing your best for your family. It's just lame and stupid to NOT know second hand smoke would be bad for a baby.

Ok, I am going off again.

Serenity now. Today I teach 2 classes. The first is for a large office in the city. They are the school board employees and it started out as a healthy-back, stretching class. It has morphed into a kickboxing and yoga class. Anyway it is a lot of fun and my students are great. I really feel appreciated. Well all my classes are like that. I am so grateful to have a job that I love, would do for free and get paid. Right on.

Class number 2 is my hardcore P90X/Insanity/boot camp/muay thai kickboxing class. I love this one too. I have a group of like-minded woman that love to sweat.

Next month I will start training the football (soccer) teams. They want some upper-body training since their sport is lower-body dominant. Oh yeah, they will get aquainted with the chin-up bar for sure. THAT should be fun.

That's all I got. I was going to take a pic in a happy-the-flippin'-weather-is-warmer pic, but the hubby borrowed my camera. So I leave you with this pic.

*Me and Dad: What is scary is that he was 10 years younger than me in that pic. Yikes. Anyway I think it's cool and what is even cooler is that my dad still looks THAT good. No sh$t.

Does this attitude make my butt look fat?

OK, I'm back. I just want to scream when I hear that "stoking the metabolism, starvation-mode, eat-every-3-hours" rhetoric. There I said it. I refrain from making those SCREAMING comments on blogs because it is just too ingrained in people. But this is my blog, so I can do what I want. I would find a smiley with the tongue sticking out, but I am too lazy for that.

While I am bitching away here, I would like to say that I get very disappointed when I see recipes that start out with a mouth-watering picture and then I get to the ingredients and see Splenda or some other non-food.

Man I could go off, but I already sound pissy. But please, People, eat food. Not fake food, not mysterious microwave concotions involving whey protein powder, sugar-free maple syrup (what could possibly be in that?) fat-free anything...etc...

I say this because I want you to be healthy. I really do. Yeah, I harp on being in Austria and the differences between Americans, but take note. People in Europe generally eat better. Not less, better. There are less fat people and less cellulite. Splenda is not sold here. Maybe it is sour grapes...kidding.

You may think you are getting away with something saving calories with fake food but the chickens will come home to roost and you do not want a body filled up with toxic waste.

Eat Stop Eat and Intermittent Fasing

Kelly Olexa's post about intermittent fasting inspired me to come over here and post something.I am passionate about the fasting. I found Eat Stop Eat 2 years ago and it changed my life. I am no longer stressed about food. I could go on and on, but buy the book. It is worth it.

I have also used the Leangains intermittent fasting program and had great results with a training and nutrition program from Martin Berkhan.

What I will do is show what intermittent fasting accomplished.

I started out like this:
Not too horrible, but with too much bodyfat for my liking.


This is me today, 2 years later. It did not take 2 years to get here, but it is easy to stay here.



I am 45 years old and have been at this for what I consider my whole life. It does not get easier to stay lean. It gets harder, but the fasting has been the way to go for me. I am not selling anything or do I profit from writing this. I just want people to know that there is another way and it is worth a try.

What do I know?...oh don't answer that.

This has nothing to do with anything except it is beautiful and the view from the front of my house. And when I miss CA, I walk out and look at this.

But anyway, I've learned some things over my fitness journey and now at the age of 45 I finally get some credit. I always worked out. I was a serious gymnast (trained 4-6 hours, 6 days a week in the height of it), then moved on to kickboxing, weight training, dancing, teaching classes, personal training, you get it. So, I have logged the hours. But people will be people and some used to tell me things like:

1) oh yeah, you are young, of course you are in shape, just wait until you are 25, 30, 35, over 40...well each of those birthdays went by and now at 45 people have stopped saying it! Because I am just too damned old.
2) I would look like you if I worked out all day and had the time- I don't work out all day and I have the same time restraints as other people.
3) wait until you have kids- OK, I did that and I had them at age 37 and 40.
4) your lucky, your naturally skinny- this one kills me, because I am NOT naturally skinny and I hate being called skinny. I know it is some twisted compliment because it usually comes from women and they think it is a desired look. But I work to have the body I have.

So you see, people don't always want to give you proper credit, I believe the reason is that it would shoot down their million excuses of why they aren't doing it themselves. Because I am not particularly talented in weight lifting, time management or dieting. I have just made it a habit. The moral of the story is that you CAN be fit, you can create the habit and it is all about consistency. I just never stopped. Sometimes I was leaner or stronger, but I was always healthy and could kick someones ass, hence the kickboxing...lol.

Next I am going to single handedly dispel the myths of meal timing, protein consumption and clean eating. HA! Just kidding on that one. But I do have some insight into those hot topics.

I'm all for tradition, but...

Really, how do these say on?

Takin' it to the Streets

People here (Austria for sure and most of the European countries I have been to) do not wear fitness/workout/training/active wear out and about. I repeat, you will not see folks running around in their gym clothes. You might as well wear your bathrobe or pyjamas in public.

Of course I do. But since I am always going to be auslander (foreigner) I get more leeway in the eccentric department.

Which reminds me, I need to get more workout clothes and they only have the standard Adidas and Nike stuff here. I am going to order from the States. Who makes cool stuff? I am out of the loop these days living the Heidi life up here in the mountains.

Can I Offer You a Beer?

I'm getting tired of pictures of myself so after this one, I will take a break, promise.

My friend emailed me yesterday and asked if I could get her some lederhosen for Halloween. Now I love lederhosen as much as the next person, but they still are more popular on men than women. Frankly I don't have enough time to shop around or find them on ebay in time for Halloween, which includes mailing them to London. The Austrian post is notoriously slow. The trains are never late but the mail...good grief, Glacier speed, people. Oh yeah did I mention they run about 250-300 euros in the shoppes? That is about 400 bucks for a Halloween costume.

But I did have this little number. Behold the dirndl. It is a traditional Austrian dress, also seen in parts of Germany. Think Munich and Oktoberfest. You MAY think this is a costume, but it certainly is not over here. People dress like this on a regular basis. Kind of like how the rest of the world thinks of cowboy gear. I mean we don't look twice at cowboy boots, jeans, cowboy hats and western belts...to everyone else we might as well be dressed as an Indian or a clown. Touche.

I am going to send it off to London tomorrow and because my friend is a righteous babe who happens to work for a cool clothing design and wholesale studio, she is sending a load of cool clothes. Score.

I have to mention I am wearing white fishnets under that dress. My legs and arms are not that mismatched.

Doughnuts and Abs

Here's a funny one:

I teach English to kids. My kids like to join in and it helps because they speak fluent English. Right now we are making picture dictionaries. So for each letter we draw 3 things. We get to "D" and I am sitting next to Nicole, my almost 8 year old daughter. I say, "how about doughnut?" (yeah, yeah, my mind is in the gutter). She says, "what's a doughnut?" She DOESN'T EVEN KNOW! I am thinking on one hand, she is missing some very American stuff here. They do have doughnuts in Austria, but with their passion for pastry, they are not exactly flying off the shelves. On the other hand, I am thinking GOOD, she doesn't know what the deep-fried crap is.

It is kind of snowing. Yup, that's right, it is feeling very winter 'round here. I like winter. Sweaters, boots, SNOWBOARDING, holidays, family, fires, food and COOKIES. As much as I TRY to avoid it I usually put on 5 pounds and then I work my booty off in January to lose it for the summer. It's OK. I usually think it is worth the cookies and yummy food. But last January the thyroid went whack and I dislocated my shoulder and I seriously suffered trying to lose that fat. And I know 5lbs sounds like chump change, but I like to stay lean and when you are losing that last bit, it is tough. Now I am in a good place and I am not so willing to travel down that road again. So I am treading lightly.

SO, one of our cars is in the shop so we are working with one vehicle this week. My son has a Dr.'s appointment this morning and my hubby is driving him there. I wanted to go and coincide it with a stop at the sporting goods store to get some Adidas tights. (he didn't know THAT part)Well something happened and our wires got crossed. He called to pick me up, I was in the shower and thought he was just going to pick me up. Well he didn't when I didn't answer the phone. So I took some pictures because I was in my cute-going-to-the-city outfit. I don't wear this around the village because I would break my neck on the dirt roads in high heeled boots and people would think I am uppidy to get so dressed up to pick up my kids from school. So here they are. I am back in my workout clothes. I teach 2 classes back to back tonight. Can you say circuit anyone? That way I get to blow my whistle and "supervise."

PS. I saw some of the new Beachbody program, Insanity and you betcha those ladies will be doing some of that tonight. It is seriously hard.

PSS. I have to say I am pretty pleased about the abs shot. YES, they need more work and less fat, but considering that I have been basically vegetarian and no protein powder, for a couple of months, I am jazzed.

Look at me!

Look at me! That would be 3 posts in 3 days. I am on a roll, man.

So who am I? Just in case someone cares to know, and it will be fun for me to see where this goes.

I am a 45 year old woman from San Francisco, CA. I can't even believe it. The 45 part.

I now live in a small Austrian village in the mountains.

I have lived here for 4 years, my German still sucks, but I keep trying.

I hope to move back to CA one day. (more on that later)

This blog is about fitness and hopefully some funny stuff about living in a small village in the Austrian Alps because there is plenty of material here, folks. (see photo, this is a common occurrence in these parts)

I am married to surprise, surprise an Austrian. I tell people that I was traded for Arnold, it usually gets a chuckle, even though I am so tired of telling it. But when your German sucks, you stick with what you know.

I have 2 kids, 8 and 5. Yeah, I started that pretty late.

At the moment I teach fitness classes. It is an eclectic mix of Muay Thai kickboxing, weight training and yoga. Because that's what I know.

My current goals are to really learn German (beyond speaking in the present tense with the finesse of a caveman) and to be a role model for the women in my community and anyone else who gets something out of my experiences. It IS a tall order but I am making it happen with Divine help and Trust.

OK, that's it for now.

Auf Wiedersehen.

Dressing Room Meltdown

I live in Europe. I am an American. We have this store over here (Europe) called H&M. Perhaps you know it? If not, it is the equivilant of The Gap. The Gap is cool for some things, but I have never been a fan of their jeans. I do have some cargo pants from the Gap or Old Navy, same thing. So when I moved over here, I checked out the H&M for your basic t-shirts and tank tops. Thought I would try some jeans too. You never know.

Well, I will admit it, I get hung up on sizes. Not as bad as I used to, but I have this aversion to wearing a size 8 or above. I want/need to wear a 6. I am 5'9", by the way. Even as I write this I am thinking who cares! Get over the size thing. I should find pants that fit nice and if they are an 8, 10 or 12, well so be it.

Oh yeah, back to the H&M. So, I look at those Euros sizes and grab the equivilent of a 6. It tells you right on the label the various sizes, UK, European, and USA. I believe it comes to what is called a 36. They looked a little small for a 6, but I was not going into the 38/40 territory. No way.

After nearly ripping the seams in a desperate attempt to get that denim over my booty, I was humbled. Could it be that the good ole USA has been making us feel like we are a size 6 when the rest of the world is snickering at us as we dilude ourselves into giant pants with a small number? I am serious a size 10 over here is a 6 in America. I have the pants to prove it.

So which is it, do the Europeans want to make their women feel fatter or do Americans want their women to feel smaller. Or does anyone care about their pants size? Maybe I am a freak that way.

And what is up with Plus sizes for kids???? I just saw that for the first time as I was checking oldnavy.com for my daughter.